Paraguayan bishops issue statement on president’s admission of paternity

Asunción, Paraguay, Apr 14, 2009 / 14:48 pm

The executive committee of the Paraguayan Bishops’ Conference issued a statement today on the admission by President Fernando Lugo that he fathered a child with a 16 year-old girl when he was still a Catholic bishop. In their statement the bishops asked “forgiveness for the sins of the members of the Church, those of both pastors and the faithful.”

“As bishops,” they said, “we renew our commitment assumed at Episcopal ordination and we ask all our priests to put into practice the promises recently confirmed at the Chrism Mass. We beg of the Holy Spirit, as Church, the grace of a profound purification.”

They asked the Catholic faithful and all people of goodwill to pray “for us that we will be faithful to our priestly and episcopal mission.”

The bishops also called for prayers “for the entire Catholic Church in Paraguay so that the sense of belonging to her, of all the faithful, will be grounded more and more on the Risen Lord, on his life, his words and his works.”

They concluded by uniting themselves “to the Mother of the Lord Jesus, the Most Holy Virgin Mary, in her humble desire to put into practice in our lives ‘whatever He tells us,’ with faith and conviction, to follow in his footsteps, as his missionary disciples, with renewed hope.”